Archive for October, 2012

Warrantless eavesdropping on Americans by federal government agencies has significantly expanded during President Obama’s time in office.

The American Civil liberties Union has reported that there has been a dramatic increase in warrantless electronic surveillance under Obama and that between 2009 and 2011 the number of Americans who were subjected to telephone wiretapping more than doubled.

During the same time period there was a 361 per cent increase in authorizations by the Justice Department for e-mail surveillance on Americans.

There were 1.3 million demands on mobile telephone companies for information on their subscribers in 2011.

The problem has become so acute and the threat to Americans’ civil liberties by Obama and his administration so serious that a group of human rights organizations, attorneys and journalists has brought a case before the Supreme Court of the United States challenging the legality, breadth and scope of these activities.

This writer has been a fierce critic of President Obama and his policies and performance virtually since the day he took office, with very good reason I might add. I believe he is one of the worst presidents in the history of the country, if not the worst, that he has done enormous damage to America and Americans since he became president, that a second term would be no better than the first and would most assuredly be worse, that he simply does not deserve a second term and that the American people should vote him out of office in next weeks presidential election. I have also been a fierce critic of Islam and Islamists and a strong supporter of Israel, positions which are anathema to Obama and his minions.

Does holding these views and expressing them loudly, clearly, regularly and publicly mean that the Justice Department and/or other federal agencies have placed me under surveillance, monitored my communications and violated my civil liberties?

Possibly.

Probably.

If you visit this website on a regular basis are you under surveillance, are your communications being monitored and are your civil liberties being violated?

Possibly.

Probably.

Violation of Americans’ civil liberties by Obama and his administration…one more reason for Americans to reject him and vote him out of office next week.

Geert Wilders is a Dutch parliamentarian who is a passionate defender of free speech and freedom of expression and a fierce critic of Islam because he recognizes that free speech and freedom of expression cannot exist in an Islamic society, because he understands that Islam is completely incompatible with free, democratic, secular, pluralistic western societies, because he sees the terrible effect Islam is having in his own country, Holland, the rest of Europe and the western world in general and because he knows that Europe and the west are becoming more and more Islamized every day and that this Islamization must be stopped and reversed if the west is to survive.

Malmo is a city in Sweden which has suffered greatly at the hands of the large numbers of Islamists who live there. Its population is 25% Islamic, the highest percentage in Scandinavia and the Islamic immigrants have effectively turned Malmo into a mini Islamic enclave in which non-believers are unwelcome, Islamic law and custom prevail and Swedish law and custom might as well not exist.

Wilders gave a speech in Malmo last Saturday sponsored by the Swedish Free Press Society entitled Free Speech: We Must Never Be Silenced. An Islamic mob tried to prevent Wilders from speaking, tried to shut down his speech and shut him up. The mob also tried to keep people from entering the venue and listening to him, sometimes violently.

The reaction was entirely predictable because that is what Islamists and Islamic mobs do, in the name of Islam of course. They try to shut people up…they try to prevent anyone from questioning or criticizing Islam in any way, shape or form…they try to take away our right to speak freely or express ourselves freely about Islam…they also have no hesitation or qualms about using threats, intimidation and violence to do any of these things..

That is happening regularly and frequently throughout the western world, including the United States, and it is posing a severe threat to free speech and freedom of expression everywhere. Critics of Islam and defenders of free speech and freedom of expression are being silenced all over the west and criticizing or questioning Islam or trying to prevent the west from becoming Islamic is rapidly becoming verboten.

If this continues freedom of speech and freedom of expression will simply be the first of our freedoms to disappear. All of the others will soon follow and we will find ourselves living in Islamic countries governed by Islamic law, with all of the attendant violence, cruelty, barbarity, misogyny and backwardness.

Wilders and other critics of Islam who defend free speech and freedom of expression are people of great courage who pay a terrible price for taking the stands that they do. We are all greatly indebted to them and the world needs far more of them. Islam is on the march throughout the west and people like Wilders are in the forefront of stopping it and reversing its depredations.

And stop it we must…reverse it we must…if we want to remain free and civilized of course.

Which was Wilders message in Malmo and a message that must be heeded if the west is to survive…if freedom, democracy, secularism and pluralism are to survive.

Media outlets in the United States have begun publishing lists of reasons why President Obama should not be re-elected in next weeks presidential election.

The reasons given are many and varied but generally include the countries dismal economic performance during his time in office…the massive financial deficit and debt he has run up which is crippling the country as we speak…his amateurish, doctrinaire foreign policy and his utterly failed performance on the world stage…his socialist, big government agenda…his constant lying to the American people…the dogs breakfast that is Obamacare…his politics of division, racism and class…an administration which is filled with hacks and incompetents…the erosion of civil liberties which has occurred under his presidency…his disrespect for the rule of law and the boundaries of his office and his ignoring of both on many occasions…terrorist attacks at home and abroad and the rising tide of anti-Americanism around the world, particularly in the Middle East…his failure to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons…his lack of a plan for a second term except more of the same…his degradation of the country and its values…Benghazi and so on. Those aren’t the only reasons by any means but they are generally the ones that have been popping up in most lists.

Benghazi?

Yes, Benghazi.

This past September 11 American Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans were murdered in a well-coordinated Islamic terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Stevens was raped and his body was mutilated. The attack lasted seven hours or thereabouts and there were several urgent requests for assistance while it was going on. Obama had real time awareness of the events as they unfolded and refused to authorize military intervention which would have resulted in the American’s rescue even though military intervention was readily available, thus abandoning Stevens and the others to their fate. We don’t know why Obama failed to rescue them even though he could have done so…we just know that he did and that it was most likely for partisan political reasons in this election season…it certainly wasn’t for military reasons. His failure to rescue Ambassador Stevens and the others was a clear dereliction of duty and amounted to murder because it meant that he was complicit in their deaths, that he in effect approved their deaths and allowed them to happen. It was callous and treasonous and one more indication that he is a totally unfit for office and needs to be removed as soon as possible.

Here is a story that recently came to my attention. While ostensibly sad, ironic and humorous and even though it is most likely apocryphal it is nonetheless indicative of Palestinian and other Islamists attitudes towards their children and martyrdom in the name of Islam.

Two Middle East mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting over a plate of tabouli and a pint of goat’s milk.

The older of the two pulls a small folder out of her handbag and starts flipping through photos. They start reminiscing.

“This is my oldest son, Mujibar. He would have been 24 years old now.”

“Yes, I remember him as a baby.” says the other mother cheerfully.

“He’s a martyr now though.” the mother confides.

“Oh, so sad dear…” says the other.

“And this is my second son, Khalid. He would have been 21.”

“Oh, I remember him,” says the other happily, “he had such curly hair when he was born.”

“He’s a martyr too…” says the mother quietly.

“Oh, gracious me…” says the other.

“And this is my third son. My baby. My beautiful Ahmed. He would have been 18”, she whispers.

“Yes,” says the friend enthusiastically, ”I remember when he first started school…”

“He’s a martyr also,” says the mother, with tears in her eyes.

After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Muslim mother looks wistfully at the photographs and, searching for the right words, says…

“They blow up so fast, don’t they?”

Isn’t that the truth?

As former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said “Peace will come when the Arabs will love their children more than they hate us”

That and when Palestinians and other Islamists reject and turn away from Islam, the violent 1,400 year old ideology of Jew hatred and barbarism which is the real cause of the conflict in the Middle East and the anti-Israeli, anti-American animus around the world which breeds terror and sows nothing but submission, conquest, destruction, cruelty and death for non believers, especially Jews and Christians, Americans and Westerners, but really everyone else too.

Unfortunately, neither is going to happen soon, which means that Islam and Islamists imperil us all and that we must fight both at every turn if we are to survive, if western civilization itself is to survive.

Since I’m going to be away from my computer for the next two weeks and won’t be able to put anything new on this site during that time I thought I’d re-print an earlier post about the upcoming presidential election in the United States because of the enormous importance the outcome will have for Americans, and everyone else around the world too.

The question is…

Should the American people vote for Barack Obama in Novembers presidential election and return him to office for four more years?

The answer is a clear, unequivocal, resounding no. Americans should not vote for him and should not return him to office for four more years. They should admit that they made a huge mistake in the last election and toss him out of office, period.

Why?

George Washington told us the answer a long time ago.

In a speech to his troops before the battle of Long Island in 1776 Washington said “The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be free men or slaves…Our cruel and unrelenting enemy leaves us only the choice of brave resistance, or the most abject submission.” Those words have great relevance and resonance for Americans today, just as they did when Washington first spoke them 236 years ago when Americans were fighting for their independence and the country was being born.

There is no doubt whatsoever that Americans are far less free since Obama became president four years ago…that the government has become much bigger and more oppressive and has intruded into ordinary peoples lives to an unprecedented degree since he took office…that the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution have been eroded or ignored…that freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of the press and other freedoms have become endangered by the bullies in the White House and their acolytes…that American values, principles and institutions have been attacked, subverted and weakened by Obama and his cronies…that Obama’s opponents have been publicly ridiculed, vilified and shamed and privately placed under surveillance (along with millions of other Americans I might add)…that he has shown that his sympathies lie with religious, bureaucratic, dictatorial autocrats, not democrats and capitalists…that Obama has refused to be bound by the restraints of his office, has acted unilaterally and has taken many powers unto himself…that he has frequently acted like a dictator and not a president…that he has frequently, regularly and consistently lied to the American people about anything and everything…that he is presiding over and actively furthering the Islamization of the country and the government, including the military…that Americans freedoms and civil liberties are nowhere near where they were before he became president…that he set the pattern in his first term and will keep on going in the same direction if he gets a second.

That is the most important reason why Obama must be removed from off ice in November. If Americans want to be a free people living in a free country he has to go. His track record is very clear and it is also very clear that Americans will no longer be a free people living in a free country if he wins the election. There are many and sundry reasons why Obama should not be re-elected (his utterly inept economic and foreign policy performance to name but two) but they all pale in comparison to this. Make no mistake, a vote for Obama is a vote against America, against the American way of life, against everything she stands for and has always stood for, against everything she has sacrificed her blood and treasure for.

George Washington was right. The choice is between freedom and submission, between freedom and Obama. It doesn’t get any more important or fundamental than that. Americans should be thankful that they still have a choice, that they still have the vote. Give Obama another four years and they might very well not have either.

The Arab News is Saudi Arabia’s first english language daily newspaper and enjoys wide distribution in Saudi Arabia itself and throughout the Middle East. Three days ago the newspaper published a very courageous column under the byline of one Abdulateef Al-Mulhim entitled “Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy” which spoke about the utility and futility of Arab-Israeli wars over the years and asked whether or not Israel is the real enemy of Arabs, particularly Palestinians, and the Arab world. The conclusion was that the real enemies of Arabs and the Arab world are “corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for human lives” and “dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people.”

I would add one more enemy to the list. Islam…because Islam fuels hatred and violence towards Jews and Israelis which in turn fuels war between Arabs and Israel…because Islam by definition precludes quality education, quality health care, freedom of any sort, respect for human lives and peace and security for non-believers, especially Jews and Christians…because Islam is the root cause of the misery, cruelty and backwardness in the Arab world…because the social and economic problems which are endemic in the Arab world will never be overcome as long as Islam reigns supreme in it, until Islam is rejected by it.

Both history and present conditions in the Arab world show that the author is absolutely correct. Arabs, including Palestinians, really have been the authors of their own misfortune. That does not mean however that it has to be like this in perpetuity, that the situation cannot change, that Arabs cannot make it change, especially given the yearning by many for freedom, democracy and prosperity. They can and it must, for their own sake and for the sake of everyone else too. The Arab Spring is a very hopeful development, although how it plays out very much remains to be seen. So is the publication of a column like “Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy” in a Saudi Arabian newspaper, Saudi Arabia being one of the most repressive Islamic states on the planet, if not the most repressive.

The author opened the column by saying “many people in the Arab world are beginning to ask many questions about the past, present and future with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

Excellent. The more questions the better. The more people who ask questions and demand honest answers the better. The more people that recognize and understand that Israelis and Israel aren’t the cause of the problems in the Arab/Islamic world, aren’t the cause of the conflict in the Middle East, the better.

Are you listening Obama?

The author closed the column by saying “Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.”

Mitt Romney gave a speech in Virginia this morning about the foreign policy he would implement if he was elected President next month.

He made the basic principle that his foreign policy would be based on very clear. It is ‘Hope is not enough…if you want something to happen the way you want it to you have to make it happen, not sit back and hope that it will.’

He also drew a very clear distinction between President Obama’s strategy of passivity based on ‘leading from behind’ as the President puts it and reacting to events after they unfold and his own strategy based on strength, leadership and action.

So what would actually Romney do, what concrete measures would he actually take?

Here are a few.

He would get serious about keeping Iran from developing and possessing nuclear weapons. He would let the Iranians know in no uncertain terms that the United States will not let them become a nuclear power and that he will use the U.S. military if necessary to keep nuclear weapons out of their hands.

He would strengthen America’s ties to Israel and reaffirm America’s commitment to her security and survival.

He would reverse Obama’s cuts to the American military and maintain its status as the strongest, most capable military in the world in order to protect Americans and American interests at home and abroad.

He would use foreign aid as an incentive and would ensure that recipients have to meet certain conditions to keep on receiving it…foreign aid would not simply be handed out any more, it would be handed out with conditions and withdrawn if those conditions weren’t met.

He would recommit the U.S. to a free, democratic, prosperous Palestinian state living in peace and security with Israel.

Those are a few of the concrete measures Romney said he would take in his speech. There were many others as well but the basic principle behind all of them is the same.

The consequences of Obama’s strategy of passivity and ‘leading from behind’ for America and Americans, the people of the Middle East and the free world in general have been disastrous and would be catastrophic if he is elected again. Romney knows this and so do most other thinking, aware people, including America’s enemies, which is why they are doing everything they can to get Obama re-elected and to keep Romney from becoming president. A second term for Obama would play right into the hands of America’s enemies and go a long way to destroying the country and freedom and democracy along with it, if it didn’t actually do it. If Romney was elected on the other hand America and Americans would climb out of the dire straits they are in thanks to Obama, freedom and democracy would be encouraged and strengthened around the world and the country would be much safer and more secure as a result, all the while remaining faithful to its values and institutions.

Romney opened his speech by severely criticizing Obama for his handling of the recent attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi which resulted in the deaths of four Americans and the concomitant attacks on American embassies throughout the Middle East. Rightly so. Benghazi was a national tragedy and Obama’s reaction, including all the lies, distortions, cover ups and attempts to manipulate public opinion, was disgraceful and treasonous. His reaction to the embassy attacks was disgraceful and just short of treasonous. Romney was absolutely right to go after him because the wounds are still fresh and Obama’s behaviour needs to be a campaign issue. Good for Romney for making it one.

Romney closed his speech by explaining why his foreign policy would be based on the principle I wrote about earlier. His explanation is instructive and well worth quoting.

Here it is.

“I believe that if America does not lead, others will-others who do not share our interests and values-and the world will grow darker, for our friends and for us. America’s security and the cause of freedom cannot endure four more years like the last four years. I am running for President because I believe the leader of the free world has a duty, to our citizens, and to our friends everywhere, to use America’s great influence-wisely, with solemnity and without false pride, but also firmly and actively-to shape events in ways that secure our interests, further our values, prevent conflict and make the world better-not perfect, but better.”

There you have it. It is abundantly clear that Obama’s foreign policy strategy of passivity and ‘leading from behind’ has been disastrous and would soon be catastrophic if he was returned to office. It is also abundantly clear that Romney’s foreign policy strategy of strength, action and leading from the front would make the world a much better place if he was elected.

Except for those who want to destroy America and her friends and allies and wipe out freedom and democracy that is.

This has to be one of the silliest, most ignorant questions the International Herald Tribune/New York Times has ever asked, if not the silliest and most ignorant.

Anyone who knows anything about Islam’s nature, essence, imperatives, history and reality (how it actually manifests itself in the world) knows that the answer is a clear unequivocal yes.

Anyone who isn’t an Islamist or an apologist for Islam that is.

Anyone who doesn’t have some sort of ulterior motive for fooling non-believers into thinking otherwise that is.

They also know that Islam is more than just an obstacle to democracy…they know that democracy is impossible under Islam and so are freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance…they know that Islam and democracy, freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance are totally incompatible and cannot coexist.

Democracy means that people have a choice, that people choose who governs them and for how long. Islam doesn’t give anyone any choice. It is a completely proscribed religion/belief system which requires total fealty to its teachings and requirements and governs every aspect of a persons life. Islamists (followers of Islam) are governed by Islam and have to live their lives according to its dictates, period. There is no place for democracy in Islam because it doesn’t permit people to choose how they are governed.

There is also no place for freedom in Islam. Acting outside its bounds, contravening its dictates, is absolutely forbidden. Islamists are simply not free to act outside of Islam’s boundaries, they have to act the way Islam requires them to. There is no freedom in Islam because Islamists cannot act as they see fit. Everything they do has to conform to Islam’s dictates which means that its followers have no freedom at all, including the freedom to question, reject or leave it. From birth to death, Islam controls every aspect of peoples lives and woe betide anyone who doesn’t conform. Freedom in Islam? There isn’t any.

Peace with non-believers is also impossible under Islam. The purpose of Islam is to force non-believers to submit to it and it has been trying to do exactly that since it came into existence 1,400 years ago. It is trying to do that all over the world even as we speak. Islam is supremacist and expansionist and peace can only come when everyone submits to it. According to Islam peace means everyone living an Islamic life under Islam and Islamists have to try and bring that about by whatever means possible until it becomes a reality. That’s what peace means under Islam…total conformity to Islam and an Islamic life by everyone. That is a very different notion of peace than the one we subscribe to and makes peace as we know it impossible between the free world and the Islamic world.

You can forget about secularism, pluralism and tolerance under Islam as well. Islam by definition and practice cannot abide any of these things, by definition and practice is the very antithesis of these things. That is why there is no such thing as an Islamic society or country that is secular, pluralistic or tolerant…that is why there has never been and never will be an Islamic society or country that is secular, pluralistic or tolerant. Islam doesn’t permit these things.

Yes, Islam is more than just an obstacle to democracy and to freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance too, yes, all of them are impossible under Islam and yes, they are the antithesis of everything Islam is and everything it personifies and stands for.

What does all of this mean for free people living in free countries?

It means that Islam and Islamists are the enemies of democracy, freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance and that democracy, freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance are threatened and imperilled by Islam and Islamists wherever they may be…the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, everywhere.

It means that unless Islamists reject Islam democracy, freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance will always be under attack and in danger.

It means that unless Islam is rejected free people in free countries have to be constantly vigilant and have to constantly fight to retain democracy, freedom, peace, secularism, pluralism and tolerance.

In a piece I wrote yesterday I said “The biggest issue for Romney in the campaign is whether he is smart enough and tough enough to really go after Obama and speak to the American people about all of Obama’s vulnerabilities and failures and what they portend for them and the country. Can Romney find it within himself to go after Obama with both barrels? That’s the biggest issue for him.”

After Romney’s resounding victory over Obama last night in the first of three nationally televised debates between the two the answer is an unequivocal yes.

The contrast between the two couldn’t have been more stark.

Romney was better prepared, more interested, more engaged, more in command of the facts, more personable, better spoken and refused to be bullied or pushed around…refused to let Obama misrepresent his positions and accomplishments and get away with lies and distortions. He came across as capable, strong, unflappable, patriotic and presidential.

Obama on the other hand was sullen, peeved, disinterested, subdued, unprepared, played fast and loose with the facts and relied on discredited, patently false talking points…he acted as if he couldn’t care less and as if he could waltz through the debate without any effort at all, as if he was somehow above it all. He came across as glib, weak and indecisive and didn’t look presidential at all. He looked like a deer who was caught in headlights, not like a president.

Romney showed a great deal of gravitas and strength whereas Obama didn’t show any at all. He was dignified, well-spoken and in command while Obama spent much of the evening smirking, looking annoyed and fumbling for words. Romney acted like a president while Obama acted like a spoiled, petulant child who was in a situation that was way over his head and who knew it.

Well done Mitt, you did a great job last night.

Now do it again in the next two debates just for good measure, just to keep the ball rolling.

And be prepared for anything Obama might throw at you. Sleaze has marked his presidency and sleaze is what he’ll resort to in the remaining weeks of the campaign.

Al Jazeera English printed an article today listing issues it says stand at the the forefront of the upcoming presidential election in the United States and the position of incumbent Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney on each of them.

Unfortunately, the author left out numerous issues that are also at the forefront of the election in a great many people’s minds. I thought I’d help Al Jazeera’s readers out a bit and list a few of them for their edification.

Issues that the author neglected to mention include the rule of law and the fact that Obama has regularly, consistently and frequently ignored and/or broken the law during his time in office…the ongoing Islamization of the U.S. and the entirely negative effect it is having on America and Americans…the fact that Obama has regularly, consistently and frequently lied to the American people about anything and everything since he became president… the ongoing erosion and elimination of civil liberties in the United States…secrecy and corruption in government…Obama’s failure to protect American nationals and American interests abroad and the utter failure of Obamas foreign policy in general…shrinking American influence on the world stage… Obama’s fawning to the Islamic world at the expense of the U.S. and the free world…ceding American authority to international bodies…Obama’s socialist, big government ideology and his unwillingness to compromise and moderate his views…Obama’s inability to work with people…Obama’s lack of leadership qualities…Obama’s narcissistic behaviour…Obama’s spendthrift behaviour…Obama’s work habits…the fact that the mainstream media in the United States has abrogated its responsibility and given Obama an absolutely free ride…Obama’s background and his eligibility to run for president in the first place…Obama’s dubious collection of advisers, friends and acquaintances and Obama’s vision of the state of the country when he leaves office at the end of his second term if he gets elected again.

Among many others.

The biggest issue for Obama in the campaign is that he has nothing to run on, no successes to point to. His track record is clear and beyond dispute. Its not just that his failures make him vulnerable, its that he has failed at everything and succeeded at nothing. That’s the biggest issue for Obama.

The biggest issue for Romney in the campaign is whether he is smart enough and tough enough to really go after Obama and speak to the American people about all of Obama’s vulnerabilities and failures and what they portend for them and the country. Can Romney find it within himself to go after Obama with both barrels? That’s the biggest issue for him.